David L. Streiner, Geoffrey R. Norman, and John Cairney. 2014. Health Measurement Scales: A Practical Guide to their Development and Use (Fifth Edition). Oxford: Oxford University Press. $57.50. Paperback. 432 pp. ISBN‐10: 0199685215.

• Author: Thomas F. Zimmerman
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/wmh3.140
• Published date: 01 June 2015
• Date: 01 June 2015

Book Review

David L. Streiner, Geoffrey R. Norman, and John Cairney. 2014. Health Measure-

ment Scales: A Practical Guide to their Development and Use (Fifth Edition). Oxford:

Oxford University Press. $57.50. Paperback. 432 pp. ISBN-10: 0199685215.

Measurement is fundamental to science and proves challenging to qualitative

clinical research. In this latest edition of their important book, Streiner and

colleagues continue their valiant efforts to make measurement accessible to

disciplines such as psychiatry, respirology, rheumatology, nursing, physical

therapy, occupational therapy, and other disciplines. Stressing application in

contrast to theory it is not a psychometrics textbook but more of a handbook and

reference guide presenting basic concepts with examples for the health sciences.

The major changes in this f‌ifth edition include: an update of all sections to

incorporate new research, providing a road map for construction of measurement

tools, reconciling theories of generalizability, and addressing topics of complex

designs involving stratif‌ication and unbalanced designs. The stated intent of the

authors in this edition is to eliminate the obtuse and to make the material more

user friendly.

The expected chapters addressing reliability and validity of measures are

included and are comparable to discussions in test and measurement textbooks.

Chapters covering “how to” devise items, scale responses, select items, and the

development and ref‌inement of rating scales will be especially helpful. Another

chapter presents an excellent discussion of issues related to biases and a review

of factors that inf‌luence response to items and scales. A related chapter presents

an important discussion and critique of the assumptions of classical test theory

(CTT) and of the advance of item response theory (IRT) based purportedly upon

“harder” assumptions, to address the problems of CTT. The theoretical and

practical advantages and disadvantages of IRT compared to CTT are covered. The

reader will note application of IRT is more mathematically demanding.

The book provides a thorough examination of ethics related to the develop-

ment and administration of scales and tests. Related topics include: informed

consent; vulnerable populations; issues related to written consent; and freedom of

consent, conf‌identiality, and its limits. Autonomy of the subject is seen as the

major issue confronting the researcher.

World Medical & Health Policy, Vol. 7, No. 2, 2015

164

1948-4682 #2015 Policy Studies Organization

Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc., 350 Main Street, Malden, MA 02148, USA, and 9600 Garsington Road, Oxford, OX42 DQ.